thelerner

I must be in a very contrarian mood, but that line reminds me of a quote from O'Sensei's cousin when told the 'void' was the ultimate state. He smashed down his fist and passionately said "To be one with the void is not the ultimate'. You want to become one with everything. And the Void is exists as a part of Everything" I'm probably paraphrasing badly and maybe the words are just a semantic game, but the gist of it was the whole man accepts Everything, has a mind Open to everything. Maybe it points away from the experience of 'go away I'm meditating' and into a consciousness that absorbs all it sees and much of what it doesn't. It fits into my theory that opposite of a great truth is another great truth.

I can't help but think you're stereotyping both dog breeds and people who own them. There are compassionate people who own all kinds of dogs. I also think there is sensationalism when it comes to certain types. I can understand the view of needing special training and/or insurance for some breeds, but to see them as bad, something to get rid of is extraordinarily one sided. Seems like Hapkido doesn't cure canine fear. (is that stereotyping?) kidding (though Aikido (my art) is a bit more into harmony & peace, plus our dojo dog was a very sweet doberman). Twinner, the reason a discussion on world peace got bizarrely side tracked to dogs was the initial quote brought them in as #1. Back on point. Peace is good stuff, but there are other ideals as important. Like freedom, justice. There's a peace that curtails freedom and justice. The best way to make people peaceful is to drug them. Another way to curtail male violent impulses is castration, a third is harsh punishment if they're not peaceful. I'm not in favor of those. If its a magic spell that vaporizes anyone who races a fist in anger, you can kill of anyone by pissing them off enough, say steal there stuff, and if they try to stop you poof they're gone. Great world for thieves and psychopaths. There was science fiction book that explored the reality of an active god, where god actively punished those who went defied the 7 deadly sins. It wasn't a pretty world where people were blasted by lightening if they got out of bed late. wandering..off subject.. What would a good world of peace look like? Not imposed by powers above..freedoms that do not hurt others, would not be curtailed. Violence would be possible in the cause of justice. Thats a tricky one ofcourse. Parents, schools, religion, society mostly teaches in favor of peace. Love thy neighbor is not a new, hidden or exclusive teaching. Yet here we are. Reading up on a country that was largely Buddhists like Cambodia, you had murder of a fifth of the population a generation ago. You could blame it on atheists, but there was culpability on the religious. I suppose where there is fear, greed and desire there will be non peace. Scarier still, beyond those reasons there are people who do evil for no reason, just bad without rhyme or reason. You can't force people to become monks and nuns. I doubt you can forceably educate it into them either. I'm a Burner, ie I join the tribe of Burning Man members. There may be lessons there. In many ways the temporary town of Black Rock is an attempt to create utopia. It creates a society of no money, a gifting society. On the other hand entry requires radical self sufficiency. You need nothing, yet custom is to share everything. Thee rule is mutual respect. Its an atmosphere of extreme freedom. You want yoga or meditation its there, clothes or nude. There spectacular violence, literally a recreation of Thunderdome where contestants in springy harnesses battle each other at the whims of a leather clad announcer while people watch from the rafter 25 feet up. The weapons are padded but the winner and losers left pretty bruised. Quite a non peaceable spectacle. moving away from topic again. So..to me what would peace look like. A town of 20,000 where the center was a University of learning. There would be a strong socialist element to it. Decent housing available for free. A large public meal shared by all would happen each day. A culture with a strong emphasis on sharing. An emphasis that everyone was family and should be treated as such. A perfect peace would not be possible, but forgiveness would. And maybe that's enough. Its human to angry, to be passionate, to do the wrong thing, but forgiveness is possible too. And for some egregious people prison or exile because justice is important. Few rules because freedom is important too. I really love Key West. A large crowd gathers at the end of each day and together watches the sunset. There is a great sense of community in those moments. I think the best way to peace is through that sense of community.

I'd like to compliment you on your site. Simple and clear.

Seems to me to get anywhere, in anything, requires the foundational skills of focus and concentration. Having a clear quiet mind is essential to almost all practices. Meditation is an excellent way to develop it. Ofcourse there are health benefits that come with it. Once you have a clear quiet mind that flows, meditation is a tool that can be dropped. Or if you have another tool for training the mind it could be superfluous. I've met some very impressive spiritual people who meditate very little a day. I was impressed by one former TBer who said they meditated 24 minutes a day. One minute for each hour. I've met others who say they only meditate once a day; but it lasts 24 hours. Meditation won't make a rock a mirror, but it can make a mirror clearer.

I have issues. There are peaceniks who'd get there by killing off everyone who disagrees with them. Dissent is by nature not peaceful, but who wants to live in a world of utter political correctness. As long as a dog isn't bothering you by barking or biting. Leave it alone, its not your problem. Find your peace by getting over your fears. My martial art involves punching, kicking choking other willing people; it may not fit someones idea of peaceful, would it be allowed in your world? There is an element of destruction in most creative processes. In growth and change there is conflict. Within the birth of a new paradigm there is revolution. A version of the world where peace is the main goal, might be awfully sterile, boring and controlled, especially one that wants to control people lives right down to the dog they could own. Count me out. Mutual respect, a safety net, community spirit. World peace sounds good, but micromanaging the world would suck. Sounds like the start of scify dystopia to me. Speaking of which, get too peaceful and the opposite arises, you get crushed by the less peaceful, or a germ you're too nice to eradicated. Wish for Mankind to be perfectly peaceful and eventually we're ruled by the damn dirty apes or poof we're all gone.

Meditating/hypnotizing pain away is not easy, if you don't have a knack for it, then it can be high level stuff. Here is what a pretty cool Tao Bum wrote about dealing with pain. "Otis: I have a lot of experience with healing muscle and connective tissue in myself. What I would do, is to make the injury into my moving meditation. Find a good, non-stressful posture (even lying down), relax, and then slowly, lovingly, activate the areas that hurt, through movement. Get the pain to be just hot enough to be intense, but not enough that my system shouts "no!" at me. Basically, I listen for the "no!" and back off, just a smidge, and make that my arena of play. And I emphasize "play", because it is better, IME, to be guided not by technique or concepts, but by the actual parameters of the injury. Every injury is unique, and the body's signals are there, precisely to guide me toward self-healing. Also, because that level of intense (but not freak-out) pain, can actually be a very joyful experience. If it is not, then I'd recommend slowing down, paying still more attention. If I'm tripping over my body's "no!" signals, then I'm not listening enough. The more I can utterly and joyfully "fall into" the sheer sensation of the pain with my awareness, the faster the injury heals. Once I learned how joyful it can be to pay attention to injury, and how easy it is to heal myself, it totally changed my relationship to injury, risk, and fear. So, this (and all) injuries can be true gifts, if they reveal the body's joyful capacity to heal itself." Personally I've dealt with some nasty pain in the past. I could mentally block it out for a day or two, then it seemed to overwhelm whatever reserves I had and only pain killers, and staying ahead of the pain with the pills would help. I assume the molar pain will be a temporary situation. Try Otis method if you're fresh, if offers a chance to learn a useful skill, but if its not working for you, take the pills and stay ahead of the ache.

Perhaps its not. But when I feel its warmth on my face, open myself up to the 10,000 rays, I feel love and compassion. Maybe its just a ball of fire passing fusional gas, but ....

I've argued the other side of this, but I understand it. Take the difference between an Eastern 'saint' and a Western one. As I understand the Eastern saint doesn't try to do good, yet good things happen around them. They're not actively trying anything. Which is often different then our Western picture of active good deeds and charity. Indeed there is the reverse of an Eastern Saint, a person born under a dark star and what ever they do, even with the best of intentions evil results follow. Maybe one piece of this is that the Eastern Saint realizes its not 'things' or even 'life' that people need, its a deep understanding of reality, and the best way to teach it is to be a living example. maybe..

I agree with Chang. I'd add while biaural beats and guided meditations can be excellent training tools, but you have to be able to 'go deep' without them. At some point training wheels have to come off.

Immortal4life: "The fact that the story of Nero intersects with the history of early Christianity and Gnosticism, is simply coincidental, and it is merely a backdrop for a more spiritual and universal theme. The theme of good and evil, and gnosis. Nero is truly an example of the darker aspects of human character, violence, perversion, and evilness. " You're right, I assumed improperly. Sorry.

Philosophy and how to books are fine, but I find gritty true life travel books hold my interest and take my breath away. My favorite Buddhist book is: 'The Gods Drink Whiskey: Stumbling Toward Enlightenment in the Land of the Tattered Buddha' by Buddhist Professor Stephen T. Asma. Its a write up of his travels teaching Buddhism in Cambodia. Don't let the tittle fool you, between stories of his travels he gets as deep into Buddhism as any philosophy books I've read. http://www.amazon.com/The-Gods-Drink-Whiskey-Enlightenment/dp/0060723955 This is one of the books I picked up at the library and had to buy a copy because its as deep as it is entertaining. If you ever dream of traveling East and learning about Buddhism, this is your book. Still I think I'll hunt down one of the Nan Hai-Chin's books- Working Toward Enlightenment, To Realize Enlightenment and Tao and Longevity- SereneBlue mentioned.

Thanks for the link, I'm an admirer of Wudangtao. I've been using there Evening and Morning guided meditations. Its nice to have a face to put on the voice.

Sounds true has some $1 specials today. If you like Ken Cohen, Sharon Salzberg, Carolynn Moss, Adyashanti etc.are available. I got Ken Cohen's material and some of the guided meditations. Hope they're good, in any case can't go wrong for a $1 each. Make sure you put in PEARL and get the discount before hitting buy. http://www.soundstrue.com/news/PEARLS/index.php?utm_source=Sounds_True&utm_medium=email&utm_content=postcard&utm_campaign=PEARL&_bta_tid=3.RM0._Ndr.AhYv.EQzy..SvbK.b..l.ATe6.a.T4ih4A.T4ih4A.-0Egbw&_bta_c=d2oy8z9rllsmvwprkn9r63nsx6u2n

Personally no. But I get your point that there quite likely there are some out there who have no issues and they're just not posting .. and in our general sphere of knowledge.

Yeah, and what if the dumped girl is falling out of a plane without a parachute, what then?? Everything needs balance. Intelligent judgement must be involved. Often the best compassion is simply presence. <by the way the girl going quickly from deep despair to state of bliss, seems a little forced. Like you don't have experience in the matter. Also giving comfort is not putting someone into a 'deep sleep'. You argue w/ either outlandish exaggeration or simplistic ones.> Vmarco wouldn't comment on the child with a skinned knee. With a young child, a hug and kiss for the booboo is the right action. Older it's a help up and a 'go get'em'. Older still a sympathetic smile and nod. There is a judgement call involved. You won't always do the right thing, yet in the attempt we show our humanity. There are children who grow up not shown compassion and they turn into adults with cynical angry hearts. As a person grows and gets stronger limited compassion is the way to go, but presence with the person, noiselessly letting them know you're there and care can be wonderful gift to a person going through a hard time. Its a particularly hard thing for men, to do and say nothing, just be there. At its root compassion is treating others the way you'd like to be treated.

I have a cheap little 16 oz blender, it allows fast clean up and to makes smaller sizes. Green 1/2 banana 1/2 avocado Handful of baby spinach Enough milk to get it blending, few oz, I use 2%, almond or hemp would to. Sweetner, I use agave a teaspoon, - honey, stevia or none A few drops vanilla Ice if banana or spinach aren't frozen Blend til uniform color Tastes delicious like a vanilla shake

I've given up on compassion. Apparently it's too loaded a term!?. From now on I'll concentrate on kindness. M.

Getting back on subject The quote is from: A> The busty sage Dolly Parton B> The exubrant Fanny Brice from the play 'Hello Dolly' C> The Dalai Lama The answer is, C, the Dalai Lama. People who aren't born into the his culture are often confused because it seems like he is sending out two different messages. That's because he is. The 'clergy' ie monks and lay people are on different paths, with different aims, following different rules. The Dalai Lama is spiritual leader to both. Depending on his audience the message is different, because the aim and life style is different. Tibetans and most Buddhists are aware of this, but its missed by most foreigners who glom on to one side and find the other wrong. Such thinking seems to me be a fundamental error. The Dalai Lama speaks in simple terms about what compassion is, no need for mythologies or other material; love, smiles, reliable friends, affection, these simple things are recognized as the ingredients of karuna, the most basic practice. Moving from Tibetan Buddhism into (alchemical) Taoism the smile holds the key to some powerful practices.

Wow, the thought never crossed my mind. <puts on rose colored glasses> Maybe the chant just worked fast. Ultimately who cares, so what, que sera sera. Oooaoommmmnnnhh. ah I feel better already. Though I have to admit the youtube link showing the young woman doing groin stretches seriously endangered my sexual exhaustion.

Hmnn, wait a second, if in your mind I'm Paul of Tarsus, then who are you?? Probably not Jesus..hmnn, I got it, you think of yourself as James the Just poor slandered martyr. Maybe you have ten times more spirituality then me, maybe a billion times, but still, you show immaturity. A site like this should be your playing ground to discuss ideas, learn and connect with people who are interesting in Taoism and philosophy. Instead you alienate people. Your insights are lost because you present them in an angry fundamentalist package and insult anyone who disagrees with you. This thread started off with Twinner complimenting you on your insight, yet you immediately get into a condescending mode, personally insulting him repeatedly and most other individuals who are writing on a 'Compassion' thread! Even if you consider Vmarco above petty concerns of others, its a problem Vmarco needs to work on because Vmarco will be dealing with others, illusions or not, for his whole life. Speaking of spiritual immaturity, the New Avatar series is on, 70 years after the first series ended. Gotta catch it. Michael

I collect guided meditations. From Taoist, shamanic, motivational, sexual, humanistic, trippy, etc., but none that I can think of that are Tai Chi ish. Most start with a relaxation based entrainment. Some classic body oriented, ie relaxing body parts, others have visualizations that start with the mind and end up relaxing the body, with imagery such as being on a long escalator. The majority have music, even biaurals, but that's not a strict requirement. From relaxation they move to main theme, often repeating it several times, repeating the same phrases (some take advantage of right/left ear phone sound). That's important because throughout the meditation you're hitting different levels of consciousness. Many of the hypnotist led tracks raise and lower there voices over key words, to hit the subconscious. Similarly the NLP oriented will have the listener create an anchor, such as word, image, or physical sense they can tap into when awake. It's good to be sensual in descriptions, make sure people feel there bodies, there extension, balance, clothes etc., yet also give free time for them to explore and go deep by themselves. Indeed some of the most powerful meditations such as the The Monroe groups are 3/4 empty.

Good job Tulku. One thing I'd recommend to Adam now, keep up the basics. Eat well, get plenty of sleep, exercise. Use this momentum to stay strong and build some excellent habits. I'd also add, weight lifting helps build testosterone

As long as we're on the subject of favorite, what YouTubes teaching Qigong forms stand out?

Why thank you I've never been compared to Paul before. He had his bad points (lots of 'em) but I admire his writings on love. Are most people who disagree with you biblical bad guys and have closed hearts? I bet you see it that way. That is one of your problems. I asked you how you'd react to a hurt child or person in need because I wondered about your heart. Its not cerebral centric to comfort a hurt child or give to those in need. Most often its a good thing, a love thing, heart centric. I think most people on this Taoist site are interested in what the Tao points to, it is after all The Tao bums. You may not be the Taoist teacher and/or explainer that we're looking for. You tend to come off as a young angry preacher who insults those who disagree with them. I'm getting off subject. Let me quote a famous guy here: "Buddhism is based on karuna, which means compassion. The practice of compassion is the most important basic practice. One develops compassion through one's own experience and through realizing that no other beings, not just human beings, want suffering. Through this realization, one can generate love and compassion. But first there has to be the realization of one's own level of suffering. There are pains that everyone agrees is suffering. ..All sentient beings-particularly human beings but also all animals and insects- appreciate affection, compassion an love. By identifying with others, one develops love and compassion. ..Through daily experience, one sees that compassion not only helps other sentient beings, but helps oneself, because through compassion and a warmhearted mental attitude- one gets more reliable friends, more smiles, even fame. If one shows other people a warm heart and genuine attitude, then they generally respond in kind." Who said it?? A hint, its on page 125 of Tying Rocks to Clouds by William Elliot.

Cheers and have a good weekend. Opens bottle